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Author Topic: Howard Hill Bow (pic heavy)  (Read 21369 times)

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Offline RyanY

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Howard Hill Bow (pic heavy)
« on: January 10, 2015, 05:41:26 pm »
If you've seen my work over the years maybe you'll recall that I've attempted to make a couple bows that resemble Howard Hill's bows. With this bow I think I've finally accomplished what I could not in the past and made a bow true to Howard Hill's style. After making some adjustments to my bandsaw I finally have the ability to make nice strips of wood for laminated bows. The limbs of the bow were made with 6 strips of hickory. With the exception of the backing strip the other 5 were heat treated with the middle three being very dark and the last two with a lighter toasting. The handle is also laminated strips of hickory as I felt a solid handle would be more likely to pop off. Howard's early bows used bamboo for the backing layer and thus had a slight crown. I replicated this crown using high grit sand paper glued to a piece of wood with my desired shape of a 2" radius curve. Riding the block along the back of the bow formed the back to a shape similar to what a bamboo strip would be. Some of Howard's bows also had a trapezoidal limb cross section toward the belly and so I trapped the limb slightly toward the belly of the bow. A deviation his style is that I added tip overlays. This is because I noticed the string denting the back of the bow and wanted to add some extra stability. The overlays of bone were shaped to blend with the rest of the limb and are almost unnoticeable. The small shelf is complimented with a little piece of leather and the handle wrap is glued on with no stitching. I believe Howard signed his bows on the bottom limb and the name of the bow was on the upper limb. In his style I put my signature on the bottom limb as the maker and his signature on the upper limb as the name of this bow. The dimensions of this bow are not exactly copied from a specific bow of Howard's but are within the range of what I have seen in his bows. Howard's bows being so narrow, I never thought I'd be able to achieve this. Sorry for the long explanation but I am very happy with this bow, it was a very fun build, and it may be a long time before I get to make another. Thanks for looking!

The bow is 70"ntn and 45#@28". The handle is 2" deep, 1" wide, and 4 1/4" long. It is 15" fade to fade and the center of the handle is 3/4" below true center to make the upper limb 1.5" longer than the lower limb. The limbs are 1 1/8" wide at the fades, 15/16" at mid limb, and 3/8" at the tips. The bow now holds just over 1.5" of reflex.












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Offline missilemaster

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Re: Howard Hill Bow (pic heavy)
« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2015, 05:44:20 pm »
Hey Ryan, that looks great! Good to see you still at it.
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Offline osage outlaw

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Re: Howard Hill Bow (pic heavy)
« Reply #2 on: January 10, 2015, 06:02:14 pm »
Your attention to detail is quite impressive.  Great job Ryan.  Do you have any plans on making it back to the classic this year?
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Offline adb

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Re: Howard Hill Bow (pic heavy)
« Reply #3 on: January 10, 2015, 07:27:44 pm »
Yup, definitely looks like a HH bow. Nice one.
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Offline Pat B

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Re: Howard Hill Bow (pic heavy)
« Reply #4 on: January 10, 2015, 07:49:28 pm »
Very nice Ryan. It's about time you built a good bow!  ;D
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Offline Prarie Bowyer

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Re: Howard Hill Bow (pic heavy)
« Reply #5 on: January 10, 2015, 08:15:30 pm »
Nice!

Do all the laminations give extra strength?

I thought hill bows were fiberglass?  Or were his earlier bowd boo backed wood bellies?
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Offline Danzn Bar

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Re: Howard Hill Bow (pic heavy)
« Reply #6 on: January 10, 2015, 08:25:04 pm »
Very Classic look to that bow Ryan ....Love it!!
DBar
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Offline Will H

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Re: Howard Hill Bow (pic heavy)
« Reply #7 on: January 10, 2015, 08:42:36 pm »
I really like that one! Always enjoy seeing your work! Beautiful tiller  :o
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Offline PNewton

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Re: Howard Hill Bow (pic heavy)
« Reply #8 on: January 10, 2015, 08:58:13 pm »
Great looking bow Ryan. Nice detail..
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Offline IdahoMatt

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Re: Howard Hill Bow (pic heavy)
« Reply #9 on: January 10, 2015, 10:08:39 pm »
Very nice bow Ryan.  I bet with those specs it draws ano shoots like a dream.  Love your work.  Nice to see you back postin bows.
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Offline Drewster

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Re: Howard Hill Bow (pic heavy)
« Reply #10 on: January 10, 2015, 10:36:46 pm »
That's indeed a finely crafted bow Ryan.  Interesting that you heat treated the interior lams, especially heavily heat treated the center three.  Since the center lam is in a neutral plane, what advantage does that gain you in a bow of this design?  Just curious and trying to always learn.
Drew
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Drew - Boone, NC

Offline Knoll

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Re: Howard Hill Bow (pic heavy)
« Reply #11 on: January 10, 2015, 10:56:29 pm »
Wonderful looking bow!  Great execution of a classic look!!  Thanks for all the spec/build details.
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Offline TimBo

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Re: Howard Hill Bow (pic heavy)
« Reply #12 on: January 10, 2015, 10:57:45 pm »
Quote
I thought hill bows were fiberglass?  Or were his earlier bowd boo backed wood bellies?

I am not a Hill historian, but I do know that he did not start will glass.  For a long time I wanted a John Schulz or David Miller bow...they are non-glass Hill bows.  I am, uh, totally over that now.  Just selfbows for me.  Although I suppose I would take one if, you know, someone isn't using it.  66", 55# or so...

Anyway!  Very nice job on this one!  The heat treated layers are really interesting.
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Offline Dvshunter

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Re: Howard Hill Bow (pic heavy)
« Reply #13 on: January 10, 2015, 11:36:27 pm »
Ryan that looks mighty impressive.  Especially with your time constraints.  It makes me feel guilty about why I have finished lately. That bow looks great! Hope school is going well for you. We miss you at Mojam for sure.
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Offline arachnid

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Re: Howard Hill Bow (pic heavy)
« Reply #14 on: January 11, 2015, 04:26:30 am »
That is a very nice bow ryan. I realy like this bow profile.
Now I know what`s my next bow is going to look like... :laugh:
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